Books

Kunstformen

Since childhood, the enthusiasm and curiosity about the biodiversity of our earth has been unbroken. It is to this urge to explore – especially on the part of natural scientists – that we owe our current knowledge of the origin, appearance, life and decay of the many different life forms on our planet. And yet there is so much that lies hidden, which makes us wonder with wide eyes when it emerges from the dark or comes to light through human hands. The bizarre, the unimaginable, the enchanting and the graceful in equal measure.

To grasp this creative power, to catalogue it and thus record it for posterity, the eminent zoologist and evolutionary biologist Ernst Haeckel made it his mission in life around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. During his research trips to Lanzarote, he created countless colour plates, 135 of which are impressively presented in his work „Kunstformen“ (Art Forms), allowing us to marvel at the diversity of nature and the oceans with microscopic precision.

At Home, as long as we have eyes to be amazed. | Illustrations by Ernst Haeckel. | All words and photos by The Sturgheons.